Monday, September 26, 2011

A Sweet Deal (+ Giveaway!!!)

If you know me personally, then you know that I have a sweet tooth. It cannot be helped. It's genetic, you see, with my Pop always having something sweet after dinner, his mom (Gran) always maintaining a candy drawer for her multitudinous grandkids to draw upon, my mom typically stashing atomic fire balls in her purse, and her mother (Nanny) drinking her iced tea as sweet as sweet can be (I cannot begin to tell you how many times we're been out eating somewhere and she frustratedly states "this tea is not sweet enough").

While I try to temper my cravings and enjoy my sugar judiciously, I will openly admit to enjoying a little sweet sumpin' sumpin' with regularity. You need the sweet in life to help to overcome the sour, yes? Owing to that tendency, and coupling it with a profound and abiding fondness for baking and confectionery-making, I found myself looking several weeks ago for a go-to how-to book on creating candy at home. And that's when kismet struck.

Beth Sweet (one can only imagine the sweet tooth possessed by someone with such a last name!), editor at Lark Crafts (my publisher), knew nothing of my searching. And yet (AND YET!) she sent me an email wondering if I might be interested in reviewing and possibly giving away a copy of a new book she'd edited, Sweet Confections: Beautiful Candy to Make at Home by Nina Wanat. How terribly serendipitous! How immensely auspicious! Why, yes, indeed, Beth, I would be interested! Yes. Indeed.

And so it was that this fine book on candy-making came into my world. With glorious styling and expert photography throughout (courtesy of White On Rice Couple Diane Cu and Todd Porter), Sweet Confections will make a home confectioner out of you in no time. The recipe titles alone are enough to make your teeth ache, your dentist grin, and your mouth water: Salted Chocolate Caramel Lollipops! Honeycomb Candy! Orange Walnut Chocolate Nougat! Vanilla Marshmallows!

If you, like me, enjoy the sweeter side of life, then I invite you to leave a comment below, sharing with me your absolute favorite sweet. It's hard for me to choose favorites when it comes to this particular category, but, if backed into a corner, if forced on my life to pick just one, I'd probably say the salted caramels at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. They are absolutely transcendent; like giggles from a baby, they'll soothe whatever ails you. I say this from a vantage point of much, much experience.

The giveaway will run for one week, ending next Monday, October 3rd (is it really October already?!!) midnight EST. As with prior contests, it's open only to domestic small measure readers (sorry international buddies!). And do be sure to leave me some means of reaching you in your comment, either by leaving an email address or a link back to your blog or website.

**UPDATE: The winner of "Sweet Confections" is Booga J, lucky #18 according to the Random Widget! Thank you everyone that stopped by. Look for another fantastic giveaway soon (this one is personal-it's for a copy of my friend Jodi 's brand spanking new book, Cake Ladies!!!)!

And, I was just looking for something sweet to eat! My very favorite sweet would have to be any type of salted caramel followed by the amazing dark chocolate with a hint of mint (at Maison du Chocolat in NYC). Mmmm.

My sweettooth is ridiculous. My favorite candy is from Italy called coffee pockets. There is a liquid espresso center surrounded by a layer of sugar surrounded by a layer of chocolate...and it all melts deliciously in your mouth.

Here I am trying to reduce my sugar intake in general and yet I desperately hope to win this book! If I AM going to eat fewer sweets, then the ones I eat should be truly wonderful, as the ones in this book surely would be. My favorite indulgence would probably be dark chocolate covered mints - like the After Eights my mother served at holiday dinners when I was young.

How can you have just one favorite sweet? Cherry pie, chocolate meltaways, gram's popcorn balls, candy apples, and my childhood fav giant Pixie stix (the plastic kind that you tried to chew through because mom didnt have anything to open it with until you got home and lord knows waiting til you got home was not an option LOL).

My sweet tooth is notorious. I've made an art of of finding healthy alternatives to satiate it, but sometimes only the real thing will do. Top of my list would be truffles from the Chocolate Fetish in Asheville and Lemon Icebox Pie. I usually make the Lemon Icebox Pie only for holidays because if if it isn't eaten by company I WILL eat the whole thing myself. So yummy!!

My cravings usually tend much toward the savory than the sweet, but where blackberry pie is involved, I'm powerless. Especially if it's made by my mom, with berries freshly picked that day. Nothing beats it.

Well, I absolutely concur with the salted caramel chorus...however, one of the best sweets I've ever had is the Egyptian Chocolate at Cafe Angelina in Paris. Think Chocolate Lounge liquid truffle - but thicker, darker, and served with a small bowl of fresh whipped cream. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

I was born to a chocaholic, so there wasn't even an option for me. :) I think my favorite might have to be...fudge. Or chocolate chip cookies. Or dark chocolate truffles with dark chocolate creme or ganache inside... Do we really have to pick just one? This book looks truly awesome and devilish.

My favorite sweet is toffee which I would love to learn to make. My daughter and I were diagnosed with Celiac Disease and cannot eat many sweets for fear of getting sick. Making my own candies would be awesome -- especially for my 10 year old who misses out when her friends are having the sweets she would like to be eating.

I don't have a real sweet tooth - that's my husband's role. But when I do need a fix I go to my childhood fave of peanut butter, butter & honey mixed and spread over warm bread. Sprinkle a touch of salt on top & it's divine simplicity!

Oh my, how can I choose?? I consider myself a connoisseur of brownies (I remember fondly the cayenne dusted ones from French Broad). As for confections, my favorite combinations are dark chocolate and cinnamon and chocolate/peanut butter. Caramels are becoming more of a fave.

Something I've always wanted to do--make my own candy! I also have a sweet tooth. My favorite is definitely torrone, the soft Italian vanilla-scented nougat candy with bits of hazelnut. One July I was laughed out of a Florentine sweet shop when I asked if they had any. They explained to me that it is a Christmastime treat. Now why would you deprive yourself of such wonderful stuff for 11 months?!

One of the most delicious and crave-worthy sweets I have had is something called Fudge Fingers (not at all like the name). I got the recipe from the restaurant at the Royal Lochnagar(sp?) Distillery in Scotland years ago.

Those sweets looked so pretty! I love things that are salty + sweet at the same time, so this whole "salted carmel chocolate" trend is RIGHT up my alley! :) Thanks for the opportunity,Sarah Msslamast@gmail.com

I come from a long line of sweetthooths. My grandmother always served dessert first at her table! My soft spot is for baked goods... dark chocolate chip oatmeal cookies with sea salt currently tops the list.

My favorite FAVORITE dessert is Kouign-amann, a Breton cake that's pretty much just butter and sugar somehow formed into a flaky crust. I ate it all the time with I was in France and miss it dearly each day...

My favorite has to be an old Oklahoma candy called Aunt Bill's. Best made with two people, it puts pecan pralines to shame. Dangerously delicious. I'd like to see how some of the book's recipes compare.

Being a rather salty individual myself I can wholeheartedly attest to the deliciousness of French Broad's salted caramels. However, my husband and daughter have sweet tooths that know no bounds so this cookbook would be excellent, especially considering Halloween and Christmas are right around the corner.

I love sweets too, as do my husband and 4 kids so this would be perfect!I have made a few candy items, caramels, toffee, lollies, and fudge, but would love to try some new things to surprise people for the holidays.

My choice of treat would be Fairy Food (or Sponge Candy as I think it's known in more parts of the country!) My dad always gave my mom a box for special occasions and if we were good, we were allowed a piece out of her box after dinner sometimes. It reminds me of home, family and childhood. :)

My ABSOLUTE favorite is the banana pudding with chocolate ganache (& homemade vanilla wafer oh & spun sugar) from the Peninsula Grille in Charleston, SC. I would go here even if the dinner was gross...the pudding is THAT delicious! Oh boy...I'm craving it now!

I have a super sweet tooth, but I'm not a chocolate fan - my very favorite in all the world sweet is real maple sugar candy. I love salted caramel just about anything, too! The book looks incredible, I'd love to check it out.

Right now I would say my favorite candy is the caramels I made last year for Christmas from an old recipe I found. It was so neat to be able to make them myself, and they tasted like Werther's candies. :)

Chocolate Truffles or mousse would have to be my favorite, but I also have a sweet spot for my great grandmothers chocolate covered cherries..the nostalgia definitely gives them an edge on everything else!

Oh man, all you chocolate people! I love sweets and am comforted to see I am not at all alone. If I had to pick just one (extreme duress!) it would be black licorice. I find as I get older the salted licorice tastes better and better. But I am eating candy corn right now.

I crave salt more than sweet, but would never kick a sweet treat off my plate. I'll eat anything (duh!) but I love sweets that have complex, multi note flavors. Salt and sweet is my life long love, but I also really appreciate bitter/sweet and sour/sweet. To that end I love a dark chocolate, or a booze spiked dark chocolate for a truly amazing flavor combo. This milk chocolate mouse with port wine ganache and creme fraiche is literally the best thing I've ever eaten! http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Milk-Chocolate-Mousse-with-Port-Ganache-and-Whipped-Creme-Fraiche-357277

I'm with you on the FBCL salted caramels (did you ever get to try their Betwixt bar?). Pretty much anything with good, dark Belgian chocolate gets me. As I get older I find I don't want quantity but I must have quality in my sweets--that's why FBCL is perfect with so many amazing truffles. The book looks great. I've been promising myself that this is the year I'll master making honeycomb candy (Crunchies--chocolate covered honeycomb--are a vice we picked up while living in England years ago).

Oh my goodness, did you say "Orange Walnut Chocolate Nougat!" I think those four words put together are revolutionary. When I was growing up, we used to buy dark chocolate covered marzipan at a little German bakery. I think that is still my very favorite sweet treat!

Oh, what a yummy giveaway! I would have to say peanut butter and chocolate fudge would be my favorite though I admit I have not had the chance to sample a varied range of confections. I would love to win so I could, Ha.

Goodness, I am a total sweet tooth. When I was a kid Jujyfruits was my favorite candy, but now I can't single it down to one so I will give a few in no particular order: 1. Turkish delight2. doughnuts3. Salty-sweet (mmm, salted caramel chocolates...)4. Dark chocolate5. Any candy with nuts in it

The FBCL is one of my must stop at shops when I visit Ashville, and you are so right about the salted carmel. But my favorite all time candy has to be toffee, there is nothing better than butter, cream, salt, and almonds.

I adore making candy to my husband's chagrin (he'd much rather I cook a balanced dinner) and I'd love to learn some new treats. My favorite to make is a toffee bar that's become a holiday staple. This year I'm adding peppermint marshmallows to the season!

I too love my sweets, but I am easily soothed with a box of Junior Mints, especially refreshing straight from the refrigerator in the summer. We had a local shop (Glarus Chocolatier) that had cinnamon ginger truffles that were incredible. I would love a copy of the book so I could make my own treats / gifts. Thanks for the chance.

My friend who runs our lovely fruit CSA gave me a delectable gift bag of homemade goodies last holiday season; this is an experience from which I am still reeling. Homemade peppermint patties, a pot of lemon curd, marshmallows three ways, and the piece de resistance, caramels rolled in tiny, melt-in-your-mouth bits of minced bacon. No kidding.

I've been wanting to jump into the breach ever since, but spent the year having a third baby, an experience which has seriously cramped my confection-experimentation time. A book full of recipes that will work the first time in my random 27-minute windows of free time? Heaven.

About Me

Making an attempt to craft a good life with my husband and young son in a small mountain community. I find pleasure in the light at dusk, atlases, hard cider, cat antics, dog breath, baby giggles, homemade ice cream and snorty laughter.
Author of the "Homemade Living" book series (Lark Books) which showcases topics related to small-scale homesteading and some of the diverse ways people are reconnecting with their food and food communities and taking up sustainable food practices.
I also host a bi-monthly column every Friday on Design*Sponge:http://www.designspongeonline.com/category/small-measures.
E-mail me directly at: ashleyadamsenglish(at)gmail.com.

The Best LIttle Chicken Coop in Candler

"The Big Problem is nothing more or less than the sum total of countless little everyday choices, most of them made by us and most of the rest of them made in the name of our needs and desires and preferences."-Michael Pollan